Display kit for greeting cards, or the like



Get. 22, 1963 A. NACK DISPLAY KIT FOR GREETING CARDS, OR THE LIKE Filed June 15, 1962 INVENTOR 1 7E114? Mc'K United States Patent 3,107,781 DISPLAY KIT FGR GREETING CARDS, OR THE LIKE Arthur Nack, Marnaroneck, N.Y., assignor to Associated Match Companies, inc, New York, NE. Filed June 15, 1962, Ser. No. 202,919 Claims. (Cl. 206-47) The present invention relates to a kit for the displaysuspension of greeting cards and similar articles.

Persons receiving greeting cards on various occasions, as on holidays, commemoration of personal events such as birthdays, wedding anniversaries or other personal events, such as illnesses, or the like, generally desire to display them; particularly when such greeting cards are of artistic merit or of humorous character or are received from persons of note. Heretofore, the hanging and displaying of such cards could be conveniently done and, when done, was generally accomplished by adhesively securing such card to a wall surface. Such method of greeting card display was messy, unattractive, and frequently caused substantial damage to the Wall surface, when the adhesive tape was removed, as well as soiled the cards themselves. This has been a problem, particularly, in public places or institutions, such as hospitals, where patients are wont to display their get-well greeting cards by pasting them on the hospital Walls.

It is the general object of the present invention to provide a compact and inexpensive kit containing'all materials necessary for the suspended display of greeting cards.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a kit of the character described which permits easy and convenient suspended display of greeting cards.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a kit of the character described which permits the suspension of a plurality of greeting cards from a surface without application of adhesive to the cards and with a minimum of contact with the surface, to thereby greatly reduce, if not eliminate, possible damage to the surface, and eliminate the marring of the card surface.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a kit of the character described Which provides suspension means for a plurality of greeting cards that is itself of attractive appearance and enhances the appearance of the card display.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a kit of the character described providing greeting card suspension means that may be quickly, easily and conveniently set up, and as quickly, easily and conveniently removed.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a kit of the character described which may be produced at low cost and sold at relatively low price.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the kit of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawing, and from the description following. It is to be understood, however, that such embodiment is shown by way of illustration only, to make the principles and practice of the invention more readily comprehensible, and without any intent of limiting the invention to the specific details therein shown.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front, elevational view of one embodiment i of a kit of the present invention, partly broken away to clarify details of structure and assembly;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the kit contents; FIG. 3 is an elevational view, foreshortened, illustrating the use of the kit contents; and

FIG. 4 is a section taken on line 44 of FIG. 3. Generally stated, the kit consists of a plurality of molded synthetic plastic forked clips, similar to clothes pins, that are packaged together with a colored string and with sections of pressure-adhesive coated tape material for securing the ends of the string to a wall. In making the kit compact and economical to use, as well as attractive in appearance, advantage is taken of the fact that molded plastic pins come from the molding apparatus in comblike structures, wherein the individual clips are each secured at their heads, by a gate, to a common runner. While, for use, each individual clip must be broken away from the gate, the present invention, for the purpose of compact, easy and convenient packaging, utilizes the whole comb, as it comes from the molding apparatus, and winds the suspension string over and around the runner; provision being made on the runner to keep the string in place thereon against displacement; and packages one or two of such string-wound combs together with a pair of pressure adhesive coated tape sections for each comb in a package or receptacle, for sale and distribution as a unit or kit.

Referring now, in greater detail, to the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in the drawing, the kit is shown to comprise a receptacle which may be of any suitable, preferably partly or wholly transparent, material, as in the form of a blister package, generally designated as 16, consisting of a cardboard base 12, and a transparent, inverted box-like housing 14, secured to the cardboard base 12.

Disposed within the package It! is a comb of integrallyconnected forked clips consisting of the runner, 16, and a plurality of clips, each generally designated as 18. The clips 18, which may comprise twelve in number, on each comb, may each consist of a stem portion 24 and a bifurcated end portion 22, whose sides may be resilient due to the inherent resilience of the plastic material of which it is formed. Each of the clips 18 is secured by the end of its stem portion 2ft to an edge of the runner 16 by a gate 24.

A card-suspension string 26, is provided in the kit. Preferably, such string is wound around the comb, as over the runner 16 thereof. The latter may, for that purpose, be formed with recesses, in each end, each of which recesses may comprise an inner, wider portion 28, a narrow neck portion 30, of a Width to compress the string 26 when it is pulled therethrough, and an outer portion 32, tapering inwardly toward the neck portion 31 such form of recess making it relatively easy to wind the string 26 around the comb, either manually or mechanically, as well as inhibiting the string from unwinding. If desired, the string may be wound around other portions of the comb, as around the gates 24 and the adjacent stem portions of the clips.

The kit may also contain two or more tabs or sections of tape 34, coated on one side with a pressure adhesive which tabs or tape sections may be utilized to secure the ends of the string 26 to a surface, as a wall surface, as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawings. The adhesive tabs or tape sections '34 may be of a type on which the adhesive-coated surface is protected by a readilyremovable lining of paper, or the like, of the type that is well known in the art, and may have an ornamental, as colored, outer surface. To obtain more secure and effective adhesion of the string ends to the adhesive tabs 34, the ends of such string 26 may be frayed, as illustrated at 36.

In use, the string 26 is unwound from the comb and a clip 18 is broken otf the comb and slipped over the string 26 by its forked end 22 and the edge of a card 40, is slipped in and wedged in the forked end 22. of the clip. This counterbalances the clip 18 to hold it in upright position on the string 26 and also disposes the card with its surface in a plane parallel to the length of the string 26.

This procedure may be effected either before the ends of string 26 are secured to the wall by the adhesive elements 34, or after, with equal ease and convenience.

This completes the description of the present invention. It will be readily apparent that the kit of the invention is compact and attractive; that it may be economically produced and assembled; and that it provides easy and convenient and attractive means for the display of greeting cards, or the like, which is safe, both for the supporting surfaces and for the cards displayed.

It will be apparent, further, that numerous modifications and variations in the kit of the present invention may be made by anyone skilled in the art, in accordance with the principles of the invention hereinabove set forth, and without the exercise of any inventive ingenuity. I desire, therefore, to be protected for any and all such modifications and variations that may be made Within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims hereto appended.

What I claim is:

1. A kit containing material for the display of greeting cards, or the like, comprising a package containing a plurality of molded clips, each including a stern portion and a bifurcated portion, means'integrally molded with said clips connecting the said clips in comb arrangement, said connecting means including an elongated gate and a readily-breakable sprew connecting the stem of each of said clips to an elongated edge of said gate, a card-supponting string Wound longitudinally of said comb about said connecting means, said clips each engageable over said string, when in extended position, by its bifurcating slot, to hold a card on said string.

2. The kit of claim 1, wherein pressure-adhesive elements for securing the ends of said string to a supporting surface are enclosed Within said package.

3. The kit of claim 1, wherein the end portions of said string are frayed.

4. The kit of claim 1, wherein said string iswound about said gate, and means are provided on said gate for retaining the string wound thereon.

5. The kit of claim 4, wherein said string-retaining means comprises a recess formed in each end of said gate, opening into an end thereof, and including a restricted neck portion, said string engaged within said recess.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 149,110 Christmas Mar. 30, 1948 2,277,669 Smith Mar. 31, 1942 2,819,792 Margulis Jan. 14, 1958 2,874,836 Wertepny Feb. 24, 1959 

1. A KIT CONTAINING MATERIAL FOR THE DISPLAY OF GREETING CARDS, OR THE LIKE, COMPRISING A PACKAGE CONTAINING A PLURALITY OF MOLDED CLIPS, EACH INCLUDING A STEM PORTION AND A BIFURCATED PORTION, MEANS INTEGRALLY MOLDED WITH SAID CLIPS CONNECTING THE SAID CLIPS IN COMB ARRANGEMENT, SAID CONNECTING MEANS INCLUDING AN ELONGATED GATE OF A READILY-BREAKABLE SPREW CONNECTING THE STEM OF EACH OF SAID CLIPS TO AN ELONGATED EDGE OF SAID GATE, A CARD-SUPPORTING STRING WOUND LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID COMB ABOUT SAID CONNECTING MEANS, SAID CLIPS EACH ENGAGEABLE OVER SAID STRING, WHEN IN EXTENDED POSITION, BY ITS BIFURCATING SLOT, TO HOLD A CARD ON SAID STRING. 